Lara Croft may be one of the best known names in the video game world, but when it comes to the movies, she’s had a bit of a rough time of it. After two moderately successful Tomb Raider movies starring Angelina Jolie as the titular explorer came out in the early 2000’s, the series ground to a halt. Fast forward to 2018, and MGM released a new reboot of the Tomb Raider franchise, this time starring Alicia Vikander as Lara Croft. That one got a similarly mixed reception; it tried very hard to pay homage to the newest iteration of Tomb Raider video games being produced by Square Enix, but at times leaned so hard into its gaming roots that it forgot to also be a solid movie.
For all that, it found its fans and there were rumbles that a sequel was on the way. Vikander seemed excited to reprise her role, with none other than Lovecraft Country creator Misha Green attached to direct the follow-up. Unfortunately, the acquisition of MGM studios by Amazon meant that the Tomb Raider sequel was soon in limbo.
“With the MGM and Amazon buyout, I have no clue. Now it’s kind of politics,” Vikander told Entertainment Weekly earlier this summer. “I think Misha and I have been ready, so it’s kind of in somebody else’s hands, to be honest.”
Now, we know for sure that those hands are no longer MGM’s, which means that the Vikander/Green Tomb Raider sequel is pretty much dead in the water.
Studios are bidding in a “feeding frenzy” over the rights to Tomb Raider
The A.V. Club reports that MGM’s rights to make movies out of the Tomb Raider franchise have lapsed, reverting back to producer Graham King and his studio GK Films. MGM had until May 2022 to greenlight a sequel to Tomb Raider, and since that never happened, it means King can now shop for alternatives.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, the bidding is fierce. One of the outlet’s sources says it’s a “feeding frenzy” as studio and streamers vie for the well-established IP. Vikander is no longer attached to the franchise, meaning that wherever Tomb Raider lands, it will almost certainly re-emerge in some new iteration. Will it be movies? A Tomb Raider show? We’ll have to see how the dust settles when the bidding war ends.
What is certain is that studios are more ravenous than ever for properties with proven fanbases like Tomb Raider. It fits right in with titles like the National Treasure show being developed at Disney+, Sony’s recent Uncharted movie, the upcoming fifth Indiana Jones film and more. So really, it’s no surprise to see studios go so wild over the prospect of working on it.
If there’s one thing the newest run of Tomb Raider games proved, it’s that Lara Croft is a survivor. No doubt we’ll see her on film again in the years to come.
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